My Mad Russian (ePub)

My Mad Russian: Three Tales is a tasty gumbo of drug-dealing, murder, arson, adultery, tax evasion, kidnaping, attempted murder, home invasion, insurance fraud and international intrigue.

In the title tale, Piotyr Alexandreyevitch Primov brings his invention-the eerie Primover, the first electronic musical instrument-to 1933 New York. There he finds patrons in a society couple, Mr. and Mrs. Max Berlin. Berlin, a banker, proposes a business partnership to exploit the science behind the Primov, while his wife forms a more intimate partnership with the inventor. The cuckold hires detectives, but finds himself stymied when Stalin intervenes. Atmospheric and engrossing, My Mad Russian takes its inspiration from the real-life legend of Léon Theremin and his wealthy patrons, Walter and Lucie Rosen-a story the author encountered (and here embellishes) as a teenage underbutler at the Rosens' Westchester County estate, Caramoor.

Big Luck moves the scene to the early 2000s and Silver Lake, in Los Angeles, where an out-of-work actor, after winning the lottery, enlists his Mexican immigrant friend to help evade taxes on his prize; what happens next prompts the friend to re-examine his application for U.S. citizenship. Sidestep is a story of the heartland, where in 1984 the heir to generations of industrialists, after having to close the old factory, manages to recoup his fortunes through agriculture. The narrator, Cindy, wavers among three loves as she recounts the heir's new challenge from drug dealers.

The three entertaining tales of My Mad Russian investigate with unfailing insight life in what remains one of the more interesting countries on earth.